This year, the May flowers are opening under the shadow of war and unease in the Middle East, the continuing wars in Ukraine and Sudan. How will our Memorial Day parades feel in the lea of such shade? How will our prayers for peace be provoked by the acknowledgement of all that war costs our humanity?

Memorial Day resources

In 1950, Congress added to the tributes of Memorial Day to those who lost their lives in war the dedication of that day as one of nation-wide prayer for permanent peace. Harry S. Truman, in the first annual presidential proclamation calling people to prayer on Memorial Day, noted that, 

“Since war is the world’s most terrible scourge, we should do all in our power to prevent its recurrence. …Accordingly, we feel the need of turning in humble suppliance to Almighty God for help and guidance.”

A prayer for peace on Memorial Day

God of life, we give you thanks for those who have laid down their lives in the service of others, in the pursuit of justice, in the search for peace on earth. We pray in sorrow for those whose lives were taken by war, for those who mourn, for those in harm’s way, for we find peace to be too often beyond our grasp. 

God of mercy, whose peace surpasses human understanding, turn the hearts of all people to the establishment of a just and equitable peace on your earth. Turn our imaginations to study peace, instead of war. Turn our prayers to. psalms of praise for your righteousness, trusting that your love extends beyond the ends of the earth. Bless and satisfy those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Bless the peacemakers, for they are your children; so your Son, our Saviour has taught us, in whose Name we pray. Amen. 

Learn more about The Episcopal Church’s advocacy for peace on The Episcopal Church website and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship website.

Mother’s Day resources

Mother’s Day was originally rooted in the desire for peace and an end to the bloodshed of war. This Prayer of Mothers for Life and Peace was written together by Tamar Elad-Appelbaum and Sheikha Ibtisam Maḥameed, Israeli and Palestinian women of faith, for Mother’s Day 2014.

As I observed in last May’s Peace & Justice letter, the original Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe focused on peace and healing in the wake of a Civil War, in part:

“Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! … From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.” Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession” (Plough);

While Julia Ward Howe wrote her Proclamation in 1870, it was Anna Maria Jarvis who succeeded in having Mother’s Day officially recognized in 1914. Jarvis later tried to rescind the holiday, dismayed at how it had become commercialized and divorced from any concrete recognition of mothers. Instead of token recognition, we might benefit from:

• Recognizing and addressing the dire need in the United States for better maternal healthcare, and especially for minority communities; the maternal mortality rate for Black women is more than 2.5 times that of White women (CDC);
• Practical and legislative support for those at risk of gender-based and domestic violence: “Women in the U.S. who are pregnant or who have recently given birth are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes—and these homicides are linked to a deadly mix of intimate partner violence and firearms, according to researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.”Moreover, a woman living with an abuser with access to a gun is 5 times more likely to die by homicide than one whose home is gun-free (Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions);
• Gun injuries, including those from homicide, suicide, and accident, are now the leading cause of death in America for children and teenagers. Safe storage laws reduce deaths from both accidental discharge and suicide among children and adolescents (vox.com). Churches can also play a part in educating about and encouraging safe storage when firearms are in the home. 

If your Mother’s Day service is dedicated to mothers who mourn, especially after violence, biblical companions include:

• Rachel, unconsoled (Matthew 2:18; Jeremiah 31:15); 
• Rizpah, watching over the bones until justice might be done (2 Samuel 21:1-14); 
• Bathsheba, whose grief is eclipsed by that of the king (2 Samuel 11:26-12:25); 
• the women before Solomon, mad with grief and mad with love (1 Kings 3:16-27); 
• Mary, whose soul was pierced by the nails of the Cross (Luke 2:34-35);

Spirit of the living God,
nestle over the troubled waters of this, your land, our nation.
Stir us by your mercy to see in every mourning mother the Mother of us all,
and to love her as She has loved us.
Amen.